@Andrewpapale @elduvelle_neuro @BrianMSweis
Sweeps are theta sequences. 100% They do tend to go farther during VTE than during normal running, but they are definitely relatively normal theta sequences.
As you may know, there is this paper by Papale et al (2016 Neuron 😉) that definitively showed that animals are in theta through VTE. This can also be seen in the original Johnson and Redish 2007 JNeurosci paper as well as in the Kay et al 2020 Cell paper, and all the other ones that have looked.
What is more controversial is whether #VTE = #Deliberation. My view is that VTE is a subset of Deliberation. You can see Deliberation without VTE, but not VTE without Deliberation.
In general, what we see is three stages of theta sequences.
(1) When an animal knows the maze, but not what to do on it, you see alternating sweeps to the goal in theta and commonly VTE (although sometimes just pausing or slowing through the choice point). [Deliberation]
(2) When an animal knows the maze and what to do, but is still in "hippocampal" mode, you see sweeps to one side (the next goal). [Planning/Checking]
(3) When an animal has automated what to do, sweeps drop down to very small (not going all the way to the goal), and task bracketing shows up in dorsal striatum. [Habit/Automation]
See Redish 2016 Nature Reviews Neuroscience for a thorough review. This story has been confirmed by many papers since. Most recently see Ugurcan Mugan's 2024 bioRxiv paper.